Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 03/00) - A winter drilling program has boosted resource numbers at Tahera Corp.'s Jericho project in Nunavut, the company said Thursday.

Total indicated resource is now 3.7 million tonnes of kimberlite grading 1.14 carats per tonne for a total of 4.2 million carats compared to the previous resource of 2.8 million tonnes grading 1.08 carats per tonne for 3.1 million carats.

"The first (2.8 million tonnes) was based on the bulk sample. The current resource is based on the bulk sample, large diameter drilling, and the recent drilling program from December to February. All those resulted in the new estimate," said Grant Ewing, Tahera's investor relations and corporate development vice-president said.

The indicated resource increase is significant because it is these numbers that the mine plan -- to be included in the feasibility study -- will be based on, said Ewing.

Tahera is aiming to develop a lone, land-based diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe in Nunavut's Kitikmeot region. The company hopes to complete its feasibility study in mid-second quarter.

Under what Ewing called an aggressive schedule, the company plans to ship a kimberlite processing plant up the 2000-2001 ice road and ultimately be in production in 2002.

The Jericho pipe also has an inferred resource of 3.4 million tonnes of kimberlite with .52 carats per tonne for 1.8 million carats. The total indicated and inferred resource is 7.1 million tonnes grading .84 carats per tonne for 5.9 million carats.

The value of the total resource is listed at $84.60 per tonne. With 7.1 million tonnes, that puts the resource at about $600 million. That figure is much less than Ekati, Diavik and Snap lake but it is still economic.

"Our dual focus is to put Jericho into production and find the brothers and sisters," he said.

Ewing adds that the history of kimberlite geology suggests there could be other economic kimberlites nearby. In fact, Tahera has found four kimberlites on the property but three are uneconomic.

As well as adding to the wealth of the Jericho project, finding those "brothers and sisters" would "light up the area," Ewing said.